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So 'Animal Crossing' Is Okay...

I got Animal Crossing as a gift from an old 90s friend on Christmas Eve.

I wanted it because I felt it might help relax me especially since I have been pretty depressed, lonely and really stressed and nervous.

Unfortunately, so far it's not as good as I was hoping. It's definitely not bad but it gets irritating.

Maybe things get better as you play. I mean I got a house already and some cool wallpaper for my home.

One thing that really annoys me is I keep running out of inventory space. I feel like I can't collect enough sea shells, insects, fossils, wood, fruit, ball sweat, whatever....

I'm constantly having to go back to Tom Nook's pad and selling stuff off or whatever just to make room.

Loading times are a bit slow too making it that much more annoying.

Some hippo bitch or whatever just moved to my island.

I got the owl who deals with fossils n' shit.

I'm trying to get a shop built but I don't have enough iron ingots or whatever and finding rocks to destroy isn't easy.

Some duck or whatever also landed on my island and has just been lying there with a bruise on his head. Nobody from the island is helping this poor little shit out and he's just lying there while the monkey who's like Animal Crossing's version of Mike "The Situation" is just walking by like nothing's happened.

Meanwhile I'm ordering dumb shit off that Nook terminal thinking something is useful when it's not. I ordered like one of those scooters thinking I could ride it around the island like a jackass but it's just decoration.

I was hoping for more Xmas crap but it's Toy Day and I didn't even get any toys. I guess it's like that so the game doesn't piss off people who don't celebrate Christmas but I'm a Jew who like Christmas stuff.

I guess I have to pay Nintendo real money n' shit for their online service so I can check out other people's islands. I have three friends only and I don't think any of them play Animal Crossing.

Oh well I got an ugly Christmas sweater and my character has big buck teeth just like I do in real life. They don't seem to have a "Big Jewish Nose" option like I have in real life so I'm going to have to make a fuss about this on Twitter and start cancelling people because I don't feel represented.

Anyways, it's just an okay game. Somebody better help that poor duck though. Imagine just bleeding out of your head while bipedal horses and hippos and other little furries just out there netting bugs n' shit.
 
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Sorry to hear about you depression bro.

IIRC you get more inventory space later on. Also for the ore: I think you can visit mini-islands by talking to the dodo at the airport.

And yeah... I think the game's okay at most. Relaxing for sure but kinda meh too.
 
Sorry to hear about you depression bro.

IIRC you get more inventory space later on. Also for the ore: I think you can visit mini-islands by talking to the dodo at the airport.

And yeah... I think the game's okay at most. Relaxing for sure but kinda meh too.
Yeah but I think you need to have the Nintendo Online prescription to go to other islands.

So, like, how do I get more inventory space because that's one of my biggest peeves about the game right now?
 
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Golgo 13

The Man With The Golden Dong
You should talk to someone about your depression, there’s no shame in it and medication or just having someone to talk to can help tremendously. You don’t have to suffer.

About the game; it’s a very slow start. Begin by buying inventory space increases from the little machine in Tom Nooks place. I forget what it’s called but that’s the place where you buy it. If you’re ever like “what the fuck do I do?” check out the little achievements you can do to earn Nook Miles. Nook miles help a lot. Also, at the beginning, focus on planting additional fruit trees to increase your income. Also find and hit rocks with a shovel for valuable resources. Be careful not to destroy the rocks like I did by eating fruit beforehand.
 
You get it from the little kiosk in the town hall. You have to redeem those points you get on your phone.
Yeah the Nook Miles or whatever.

I thought you needed a subscription to the online Nintendo service? Maybe that's just for visiting other player's islands?

Anyone of you who plays AC and don't find me an annoying little shit, feel free to send fren codes or whatever or I'll send mine to you.
 
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S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
^
We have a OT for this game and we also have a NintendoCHADs thread OP.
 
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bender

What time is it?
Animal Crossing has its' own pace and while that can be a little slow and frustrating, it's not a game you complete in a week or two. It's meant to be played a few minutes a day for a few days a week and something you keep coming back to for years. Events will roll back around so if you miss something this go, it will be waiting for you in a years time.
 
You should talk to someone about your depression, there’s no shame in it and medication or just having someone to talk to can help tremendously. You don’t have to suffer.
Real talk.

Nobody cares and people are just like, "stop your whining and pull yourself up by your bootstraps."

Besides I'm seeing a psychiatrist and I'm on 40mg of Mirtazapine.
 
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Dthomp

Member
I haven't picked it up in a while, but I seem to remember the first week being pretty slow while you unlock more things like museum, and leveling up your home, and the shop. First days just focus on selling shit to Nook, pay off your bills to get a bigger home so you have more room in there.

When you find the gold spot to dig up, plant 10k bells in the hole and it'll grow 30k when the tree grows, constant way of having money come in. It's just mindless fun, just wait til you get the chance to kick the Hippo off your island. I love the critters I have on mine outside of this stupid old lady monkey that moved in. It's the perfect game to play for an hour or so every night or two when you're winding down. Kind of mindless relaxing and fun, but won't be something you can play for hours and hours on end...I think?
 

mickaus

Member
The biggest problem for me is that you spend all this time buying/collecting items and there's basically no interaction with them at all. Like, if I buy a tennis court, I want to be able to play tennis. If I spend a ridiculous amount on a piano or arcade cabinet, I should actually be able to do something with it.
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire had the slides and spinning mats and a TV in the secret base, Animal Crossing should look to those games for some inspiration.
 
I haven't picked it up in a while, but I seem to remember the first week being pretty slow while you unlock more things like museum, and leveling up your home, and the shop. First days just focus on selling shit to Nook, pay off your bills to get a bigger home so you have more room in there.

When you find the gold spot to dig up, plant 10k bells in the hole and it'll grow 30k when the tree grows, constant way of having money come in. It's just mindless fun, just wait til you get the chance to kick the Hippo off your island. I love the critters I have on mine outside of this stupid old lady monkey that moved in. It's the perfect game to play for an hour or so every night or two when you're winding down. Kind of mindless relaxing and fun, but won't be something you can play for hours and hours on end...I think?
Oh wait I can plant money and shit and it grows back on a tree with more money?

Why didn't that Mike "The Situation" monkey tell me that?

I love that I have to pay bills in a game.

Does Coronavirus exist in Animal Crossing? Maybe Tom Nook can go lax with my housing payments or I'm gonna report that fucker to the CDC.

Maybe Congress can decide to give my island that 1 billion instead of Saudi Arabia.

Guess I better plant some moneybags tomorrow.
 

borborygmus

Member
Play Rune Factory or Stardew Valley for something more "rigorous" for lack of a better word. Animal Crossing is very laid back. I recall the one on DS only showing the total amount when selling in bulk, so you couldn't even know which items were more valuable than others and I had to sell stuff individually to know what was actually worth collecting, and each time there was a long unskippable dialog. At that point I just dropped it and moved on to better games.
 
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The game is meant to be played slowly.

Although overall I actually think the overall economy and pacing is horrible. The pacing is designed for short daily play time, but the economy expects you to be making hundreds of thousands of bell to buy things. My wife is super casual player, and she was playing it and she was like ‘I want this item in the store but I will never be able to make 150k bells?!’ They made the prices for the type of player that takes advantage or min/Max’s all the systems rather than for normal players.

And yes I also recommend Stardew Valley.
 
Play Rune Factory or Stardew Valley for something more "rigorous" for lack of a better word. Animal Crossing is very laid back. I recall the one on DS only showing the total amount when selling in bulk, so you couldn't even know which items were more valuable than others and I had to sell stuff individually to know what was actually worth collecting, and each time there was a long unskippable dialog. At that point I just dropped it and moved on to better games.
Rune Factory always looked pretty cool to me.

What about the Harvest Moon games?
 
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The game is meant to be played slowly.

Although overall I actually think the overall economy and pacing is horrible. The pacing is designed for short daily play time, but the economy expects you to be making hundreds of thousands of bell to buy things. My wife is super casual player, and she was playing it and she was like ‘I want this item in the store but I will never be able to make 150k bells?!’ They made the prices for the type of player that takes advantage or min/Max’s all the systems rather than for normal players.

And yes I also recommend Stardew Valley.
It's really not that had to make money if you know what you are doing. Tell your wife to plant a bunch of non native fruit trees on the island, that worked wonders for me. Also, the glowing golden spots in the ground are excellent for money too. Dig up the initial 1,000 bells but don't bury the whole immediately. Instead put in 30,000 bells in the hole and in three days you will get 90,000 bells from the money tree. You also get 8,000 bells each day from breaking money rocks. Hope that helps her out.
 
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borborygmus

Member
I noticed with these kinds of games there's a gap in the audience that nobody talks about. Animal Crossing and the 3DS Harvest Moon games are heavily streamlined; for example, in the latter, mining is something you unlock and it gives you like X number of mining "attempts" per day and it's just an RNG lottery. Other series and the older Harvest Moon games are much more open and it's up to you to manage your stamina and expend it wisely on activities and socializing, and you actually go mining and you're limited by your stamina and tools.

A lot of people are more casual and don't really care about the time and resource management aspect, which is actually pretty hardcore in the older games (Harvest Moon on the SNES is brutal and even has a long term deadline that results in your game being over if you didn't meet certain requirements).

I bet someone's going to object to me putting Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon type games in the same category, but this is how I see it.

What about the Harvest Moon games?
Very hit or miss series imho and things got complicated in recent years due to legal issues (tl;dr: it's Story of Seasons now). Friends of Mineral Town is great but it's kind of dated, and there's a remake but I don't know if it's any good and the visuals look like crap. Rune Factory is basically Harvest Moon with a light RPG layer on top, so the farming is made a bit easier so you get more free time to explore dungeons.
 
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It's really not that had to make money if you know what you are doing. Tell your wife to plant a bunch of non native fruit trees on the island, that worked wonders for me. Also, the glowing golden spots in the ground are excellent for money too. Dug up the initial 1,000 bells but don't bury the whole immediately. Instead put in 30,000 bells in the hole and in three days you will get 90,000 bells from the money tree. You also get 8,000 bells each day from breaking money rocks. Hope that helps her out.
Wait, you can get a wife in thus game?
 

Tschumi

Member
that's the most depressing shit i've read in a month.

hope things get better for you, or your little stand-in.
 

Trilobit

Member
I liked AC for Switch, but I really feel they need to make stuff more interactive. I'm so tired of everything just being decorative. For next game I hope they make half the stuff, but everything usable and also harder to come by.
 
I don't know what is causing you your depression/ stress etc., just remember that it will pass and good times will roll in.

There was once a king who (to test intelligence) asked one of his viziers, who was known for his erudition and intelligence, to inscribe a sentence on his ring that when he reads in sadness, he becomes happy and when he reads in happiness, he becomes sorrowful.

The vizier inscribed on the ring "This, too, shall pass".

Lesson being, no state is permanent; neither sorrow nor joy. Just hang in there and know that ease is close by. As it was said: Inna ma'al 'usri yusra (verily with the difficulty is ease).

This helps me be optimistic and hopeful in tough times and I hope it does the same for you, friend!
 
I'm somewhat tempted to sell the game since I'm really in need of money.

I hate to do it because it was a gift by a friend I haven't seen in almost 15 years.

I don't hate the game and I'm just a bit underwhelmed but fuck, I really need the money.

Dilemna.
 
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S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Animal Crossing and the culture around it is fucking cringe.
Well, I mean, gaming culture in general is pretty cringe so....
q0YWq1x.png
 

nordique

Member
I’m not into animal crossing at all

but I know people who are addicted to it. Pretty remarkable how varied gaming tastes can be
 

PhoenixTank

Member
Based on your Metro GoG post you have a PC - throwing Slime Rancher into the ring as a better game than AC for relaxation & wellbeing.

Cheap right now but also has a demo. Delightful game, very chill.
 
Based on your Metro GoG post you have a PC - throwing Slime Rancher into the ring as a better game than AC for relaxation & wellbeing.

Cheap right now but also has a demo. Delightful game, very chill.
Somebody gifted me Stardew Valley the other night so I'm going to try that.

The Metro game was free on GOG. For the next 48 hours. Go get it!

 

Bluecondor

Member
New Horizons is my first Animal Crossing game and I absolutely love it. I have been playing it since March.

The greatest thing about this game (for me anyway) is that it puts you directly into an amazingly detailed world that has its own numerous day-to-day activities and closely mimics weather and holidays year round. Everything from the villagers on the island, to the weather, to the fish, bugs, plants and sea creatures also follow this daily and seasonal/yearly cycle. On the 4th of July in real life, it was the 4th of July in Animal Crossing - both in terms of fireworks, etc., but also in terms of it being the summer and the types of creatures and weather you would experience then. Today is New Year's Eve, and it is New Year's Eve in Animal Crossing - with a countdown to New Year's, and also in terms of it being winter and the types of creatures and weather we see.

I have to admit that I don't fully get all of the lore and history of the villagers and the various NPCs (many of whom have appeared in every edition of the game), but playing since March, the NPCs fit with the daily cycle (like the set of different NPC visitors who come to the island bi-weekly) and the seasonal calendar (like Franklin the Thanksgiving turkey and Jingle for Christmas/Toy Day).
 

BootsLoader

Banned
So basically it is still a “look at my decorations“ game. Like the old ones.
OP, why you don’t talk to other people about you and your feelings. Also, exercise. Make exercising a routine. You will be impressed of how much clarity you will have and how much better you will feel. You just need to do that every day.

As for gaming, if you really want to relax I suggest you to play Stardew Valley. It’s relaxing as fuck. I always used to fell asleep while trying to play that game.
 
So basically it is still a “look at my decorations“ game. Like the old ones.
OP, why you don’t talk to other people about you and your feelings. Also, exercise. Make exercising a routine. You will be impressed of how much clarity you will have and how much better you will feel. You just need to do that every day.

As for gaming, if you really want to relax I suggest you to play Stardew Valley. It’s relaxing as fuck. I always used to fell asleep while trying to play that game.
Because whenever I talk about how I feel here it's "things will get better" or "pull yourself up by your bootstraps. My dad was in WW2 and you don't know hardship". etc.

So honestly I need to stop 'bitching' and 'moaning' here.

And yes I see a professional. I'm on 40mg of Mirtazapine.

Edit: somebody actually gifted me Stardew Valley the other night. I haven't started it yet.
 
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BootsLoader

Banned
Because whenever I talk about how I feel here it's "things will get better" or "pull yourself up by your bootstraps. My dad was in WW2 and you don't know hardship". etc.

So honestly I need to stop 'bitching' and 'moaning' here.

And yes I see a professional. I'm on 40mg of Mirtazapine.

Edit: somebody actually gifted me Stardew Valley the other night. I haven't started it yet.
I don’t care about ww2 etc. I really don’t care. Exercise worked for me and for a friend. If you want you can try. If you don’t, that’s up to you.

Give Stardew Valley a try.

I’m drunk so if I speak aggressively it’s the alcohol.
It’s not about bitching, just people fuckin trying to help each other.
I had depression too because of another illness.

Happy new year everyone!!!
 

jaysius

Banned
It's not even OK it's FUCKED UP.

Nintendo made it so you only get ONE ISLAND per MACHINE. Only ONE ACCOUNT is the "MAIN" and every other account on that machine are "bitches" the bitches can't play the "story", they live on literally the SAME ISLAND as the MAIN, can't have many of the tools you need to play, because you can't play the "story" you can't ever have upgraded tools, it's the worst thing ever, you can't even alter the island very much.

Only Nintendo can get away with this bullshit.
 
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